My Book Angel

The death of Meredith Coleman Anding, one of the Tougaloo Nine who helped to integrate the public library in Jackson, Mississippi, leads me to think about my library experiences. The public library in Jackson was probably integrated somewhere around 1964 when I was a young child. My parents were separated during this time period. My father took with him the only car our family owned, which did not matter because my mother did not drive, therefore, I have no memories of visiting public libraries as a child.

My Aunt Alice was my book angel. Aunt Alice was pleased with herself when she landed a job as a custodian in a public school after working several years as a domestic. She would have better wages, health insurance, a Christmas Club bank account, and a pension plan. Since she lived next door to me, her joy spread to our household. I was happy she was happy knowing there might be more oreo cookies in my future.

Alice Durr Dent
1924-2000

During the school year, she would bring home a book or two, but mostly magazines. The children's magazine Highlights was my favorite. The end of the school year was almost as good as Christmas. Boxes of discarded books and magazines, crayons, puzzles, erasers, etc. would be welcomed in our home.

I don't know if she knew how much joy those gifts of love brought to this niece who enjoyed books. Thank you, Aunt Alice, for being my book angel.

Thank You Meredith Coleman Anding, Jr

Thank you for your contribution in demanding equql access to the public library system for African American citizens, in Mississippi. May you rest in peace.

Investigating the Tougaloo Nine

Meridith Coleman Anding, Jr., was the son of Meridith Coleman Anding, Sr., and Nellie Marshall. He was my mother's second cousin once removed.

Mr and Mrs Anding

This probably was not a planned photograph. They look as though they tolerated the photographer. It is lovely to have their images to put with their familiar names.

Leonteen Coleman Anding
1895-1965
Daughter of James Coleman and Mary Ann Markham

Walter McDaniel Anding
1893-1962
Son of Steve Anding and Eliza McDaniel

Photograph Courtesy of Lisa Lee
Photograph taken about 1959.
Leonteen was my mother's 1st cousin once removed.

Anding Family A Classic 1960s Photograph

Children of Walter McDaniel Anding & Leonteen Coleman
The couple had 13 children.
James, Meredith, Mildred, Thelma, Douglas, Aileen, Donald, Mary, Reginald, Annette, Gregory, Tina, and Walter Jr.

Photograph Courtesy of Lisa Lee
They are 2nd cousins to my mother.

Investigating the Tougaloo Nine

From left are: Joseph Jackson, Jr., Geraldine Edwards, James Cleo Bradford, Evelyn Pierce, Albert Lassiter, Ethel Sawyer, Meredith Coleman Anding, Jr., Janice L Jackson, and Alfred Lee Cook

Myrlie Evers said of the Tougaloo Nine; "The change of tide in Mississippi began with the Tougaloo Nine and the library sit-in." On March 27, 1961, nine students from Tougaloo College entered the main "white only" public library in Jackson, Mississippi, in attempt to overturn segregation. The public library was chosen because it was supported by tax dollars of all citizens. The sit-in, read-in was carefully planned by the students and assisted by Medgar Evers, Mississippi field secretary of the NAACP.

The students first went to the "colored" library and asked for books they knew were not there. They left and went to the larger library for white patrons, quietly entering, searching through the card catalog, sat at tables and wrote notes from reference books.

Mugshot of maternal cousin Meredith Coleman Anding, Jr., one of the Tougaloo Nine.

The police arrived and asked them to leave. The students refused. They were arrested for disrupting the peace under the provisions of a 1960 state law making it unlawful for any member of a crowd to refuse to leave a public place when ordered to do so by authorities. The nine spent over 30 hours in jail, were found guilty of disturbing the peace, fined $100, 30 days suspended sentence.

Former Jackson Municipal Library where Students Protested

The Sovereignty Commission investigated the nine students. Four students were from Mississippi, three from Tennessee, one from Michigan and one from New York. Police departments did background investigations and found that the students had no criminal records as adults or juveniles. Their parents were hard working, people well thought of in their communities and there was no evidence that their parents were involved with the movement.

President of Tougaloo College, Dr Daniel Beittel, was pressured to expel the students. Beittel who was white supported, ensured the safety of his students and refused to expel them. The Commission provided files about the college and Dr Beittel to the Citizens Council to enlist their aid in investigating and shutting down the college. The commission offer the Tougaloo trustee board that "Dr. Beittel be removed from Tougaloo and in return we can pledge that the legislature will take no action on revocation of the charter."

Dr Beittel was forced to resign 25 April 1964. Below is one of the many correspondence concerning Beittel by the Sovereignty Commission.

Each of the nine generated dozens of pages in the Sovereignty Commission's files, some more than others. Evelyn Pierce participated in the sit-in at the Woolworth's counter in Jackson and in voter registration drives and other demonstrations. Her parents received death threats. The other students as well as their parents were intimidated, threaten with job loss and received death threats. At one home, Members of the Ku Klux Klan showed up on horseback.

Most of the students graduated from Tougaloo and became productive members of society. All are alive except Pierce.

Summary - The Sovereignty Commission was a state supported agency charged with preventing desegregation. The practices of the commission were similar to a police state. They were a "watchdog agency." They did detailed investigations to build a file on persons whose utterances or actions on racial issues indicated they should be watched. When African Americans became sick and tired of the way they were being treated, they asserted themselves, became determined to obtain their rights guaranteed in the United States Constitution.

Other articles concerning Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Informant to Sovereignty Commission
Teachers, Did You Sign Your Statement
Reverend J. W. Johnson "An Agitator"
Tougaloo Nine
Appeasing the Negro
Suspected Members of NAACP

Meridith Coleman Anding, Jr., is the son of Meridith Coleman Anding, Sr., and Nellie Marshall. He is my mother's second cousin once removed.

Sources:
The Clarion Ledger, Oct 13 2006, Page 1
Sovereignty Commission Online
Civil Rights Movement Timeline 1961 - Tougaloo Nine and Jackson State Protest
Memo, Director, Sovereignty Commission re: Tougaloo College, 13 April 1964, Director's File, Sovereignty Commission Papers, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Document Number SCR ID 1-84-0-8-1-1-1
Who Fired Dan Beittel
Tougaloo Nine Collection - Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Tougaloo Nine

Geraldine Edwards Hollis, one of the Tougaloo Nine, attempted to integrate the public library in Jackson, MS, March 27, 1961. Maternal cousin Meredith Coleman Anding, Jr., was one of the nine. Their actions triggered the civil rights movement in Jackson.

The next post will be my final post (if I don't find additional relatives in files) on the Sovereignty Commission, which will discuss the commission investigation of the nine, their college and college president.

Listen to Mrs Hollis in her own words concerning the sit-in.

Mrs Hollis speaks of growing up in segregated Mississippi.
Other articles concerning Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Investigating the Tougaloo Nine
Informant to Sovereignty Commission
Teachers, Did You Sign Your Statement
Reverend J. W. Johnson "An Agitator"
Tougaloo Nine
Appeasing the Negro
Suspected Members of NAACP

Sovereignty Commission Online

Anding Family Bible Record Slave Births

(Faded) was Born February 4th 1835
(Faded) was Born Nov 4th 1837
Samuel was Born October 20th 1841
Moses was Born August 10th 1843
Benjamin was Born 1846
Louden Trotter was Born May the 7, 1847
The Martin Alexander Anding family of Caseyville, then Copiah County, Mississippi, was a neighbor to the Buie family, slave owning family of members of my family. Descendants of Anding slaves married descendants of my family.

Martin's wife Mary Lambright was the owner of the family bible. Mary and others listed the births of the Anding family and at the bottom of a page, the slaves births were listed.

One of the babes listed, Samuel Anding aka Samuel Anderson, served with the 6th Regiment, Company I, during the Civil War. Samuel met Caroline Williams while in Natchez. The couple married after the War and raised a family in Jefferson County, near where Caroline was raised. Samuel died in 1916

Genealogy research has not revealed a connection between Samuel Anding and my ancestors.

Sources:
Family Bible of Mary Lambright Anding
Information shared from Carolina Gale Lambright, collateral relative of Mary Lambright Anding.

Samuel Anding's Civil War Pension Records